Nearly 80 Oregon Prison Inmates Died Between 2010-2011- Most 'Unreported' Says AP

AP reports: "Most Oregon prison deaths unreported to public; 79 inmates died in custody on 2010-2011".

Oregon prisons- land of the great unknown, all families who need support should contact our newsroom, we will help as we can.

(SALEM) - A new story about Oregon prison deaths by The Associated Press, Most Oregon prison deaths unreported to public; 79 inmates died in custody on 2010-2011 confirms many things we have reported, albeit very much without support from other Oregon media, until now.

The AP article published out of the Midwest, in Columbus, Indiana, was sourced from Salem's daily newspaper, the Statesman Journal, which until now, has been anything but belicose when it comes to fighting for inmate justice, or representing minorities.

We've been screaming about extremely serious issues in the prison system for years, alone and ignored by Salem's 'local daily' because we are not in lock step with the government, the way the Statesman Journal has been. It was so bad at one point that a large protest of this newspaper's reporting practices was held. (Demonstrators Protest Local Newspaper Over Racism)

Today I feel differently about this organization, in fact I applaud them. Today, the team at this paper served the public at large.

In fact the SJ also reported that the state has no plan to change its policies, and that these prisoners will die in silence in Oregon's publicly funded institutions. This is unheard of in the past, prisons were never traditionally allowed to legally conceal this information. The state of Oregon only intends to notify the public of, "certain high-profile or notorious inmates".

According to the Columbus, Indiana, Republic:

“

The prison system has 14,000 inmates in 14 prisons throughout the state. The Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem had the largest number of inmate deaths during 2010-11, with 31, followed by 23 at the Snake River Correctional Institution near Ontario, 11 at the Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla, five at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton, four at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem and two at Coffee Creek. Three prisons each had a single death during the same time period: Columbia River Correctional Institution in Portland, South Fork Forest Camp in the Coast Range and Deer Ridge Correctional Institution near Madras.

”

Oregon's archaic, embarrassing laws that lock people up for smoking pot and consider sex between an 18-year old and a 17-year old '3rd Degree Rape', have naturally led to an explosive prison population, many times larger than what it ever was in the past, when moral fiber was still interwoven into the life patterns of officials.

Oregon officials figured out a long time ago that prison is a lucrative business and that between bribery, extortion, prostitution and drug and cigarette dealing, hell cattle rustling, (true story) tons of money could be made and laundered to appear as legitimate.

Then of course, you need a state literally packed with officials willing to ignore things like the Murder of Prison Director Michael Francke, a crime falsely hung on a patsy who never could or would have committed. The episode in Oregon's legal legacy is so far fetched, that it was featured in an episode of 'America's Most Wanted' after it was adjudicated.

Today, a degree of hope found its way into the public consciousness, let's hope the SJ is on an upswing, and will continue to show more responsibility.

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Tim King, summer 2008, covering the Iraq War

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim is a former U.S. Marine.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Silver Spoke Award by the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (2011), Excellence in Journalism Award by the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs (2010), Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), First-place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Tim was a member of the National Press Photographer's Association for several years and is a current member of the Orange County Press Club.

Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 102 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can write to Tim at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com